Polydor’s head of publicity and communications is to join Jackie Cooper
PR as its first planning and publicity director.
Pete Bassett who has promoted acts including Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder
and the Bees Gees in his three years at the record company will start
in January.
He will work alongside Jackie Cooper founding partners Robert Phillips
and Jackie Cooper with a remit to advise on marketing strategy and boost
client coverage in new and traditional media.
‘The planning role should be as central to public relations as it is to
the ad industry,’ said Phillips.
‘The appointment is designed to echo the agency’s existing commitment to
marketing integration. It’s a service clients want and need.’
Bassett, who heads a press relations team of five at Polydor, said the
music and PR industries ‘share a great deal of common ground’.
‘It is vital for record company personnel to be passionate and totally
committed when representing artists and the same is true of clients. You
have to understand and believe in the product.’
He said his eight years in the music business had given him a ‘great
understanding of how to form relations with the entertainment and
fashion world and the FMCG industry’.
